Esri Shapefile Writer Parameters

Writer Parameters

Use Upper Case

Mixed-case attribute names are allowed by default. Selecting this parameter changes attribute names to uppercase text.

Note: This parameter is used only when generating an initial workspace; therefore, it is not editable in Workbench after the workspace has been generated.

Character Encoding

This parameter is applicable if you are working with foreign (non-English) character sets. If your source data contains foreign characters, using this parameter along with the encoding value ensures that the original data is preserved from the reader to the writer.

The character encoding will be automatically detected from the source file (fme-source-encoding). If you select any other character encoding, it will take precedence over the automatically detected character encoding.

FME supports most encodings.

Write Spatial Index

Specifies whether or not to generate spatial index files when writing shapefiles.

When this option is selected, FME checks whether ArcGIS is installed on the machine running the workspace. If ArcGIS is installed, FME writes the spatial indexes using ArcGIS libraries. If ArcGIS is not installed, FME writes spatial indexes using an alternate library.

Note that attribute indexes still require an ArcGIS installation.

Note: If any attributes are flagged for indexing, spatial indexes are produced regardless of this setting. For more information, see User Attributes (Writing Attribute Indexes).

Create Compressed Shapefile (.shz)

When selected, this option creates a single zipped .shz file that contains all the files that comprise a shapefile dataset.

For example, coast.shz will contain coast.shp, coast.dbf, coast.shx (as well as any other supporting files, if applicable).

Each .shz file corresponds to one layer (feature type).

Tip: .shz files can be renamed to ".zip" and opened with most unzip tools.

Output Dimension

Dimension from First Feature: Shapefiles produced will contain geometries with dimension information obtained by the first feature observed by the writer.
2D: Shapefiles produced will contain two-dimensional coordinate geometry.
2D + Measures: Shapefiles produced will contain two-dimensional coordinate geometry and measures.
3D + Measures: Shapefiles produced will contain three-dimensional coordinate geometry and measures.

Note: These parameters can be modified after generation of the writer. For more information, see Esri Shapefile Writer Feature Type Parameters.

Advanced

Strict Compatibility

By default, this parameter specifies that the writer should write shapefiles that are compatible with other products by taking a stricter interpretation of the specification.

Geometry

Preserve Ring Vertex Order

This parameter specifies whether the writer should:

Preserve the order of the vertexes within the rings of polygons and donuts of input features (Yes), or
Force ring vertex order to be compatible with the format specification by orienting the ring vertexes to identify inner and outer rings and allow disambiguation of aggregates and donuts (No).

Note that ellipses are stroked into polygons with counterclockwise orientation and thus also may be affected by the option to not orient the rings properly as clockwise according to the specification.

Note also that because the vertex order is the only mechanism to distinguish between donut and aggregate geometry types when there are multiple polygon rings, the type may not be the same when read back if the input vertex order is preserved but does not match the input geometry type vertex order requirements.

Tip: The safest setting for this advanced option is to leave it unchecked (set to No), which is the default setting.

Surface and Solid Storage

Note: This parameter is used only when generating an initial workspace; therefore, it is not editable in Workbench after the workspace has been generated.

Multipatch: To preserve the original structure, the writer will write input 3D surfaces and solids as shape_multipatch.
Polygon: To break 3D surfaces into polygon components, the writer will write input 3D surfaces and solids as 3D shape_polygon.

Treat Measures as Elevation

This parameter controls the handling of measures data associated with geometric data or attributes on the incoming features:

No (default): Preserves the measures on the features.
Yes: Measures data is created from the z values on the incoming features, if the z values exist. If measures data exists, it is not overwritten by the z values on the feature.